Become an Enemy to remain a Friend
by Trucina
Summary: Those couple of months after the Purge were the most painful and mind-wrecking months of Daemon's life. It didn't help that the connections he made with Jaenelle's First Circle were so brutally torn. Thanks to Mother Night, that there was a Black Widow that saw in a tangled web that he was the friend who would become an enemy in order to remain a friend.
1. Chapter 1

**Become an Enemy to remain a Friend**

 **Chapter 1**

(placed after Queen of the Darkness)

Those couple of months after Jaenelle released her power to cleanse the Blood of Taint, were the most painful and mind-wrecking months of Daemon's life, even next to those centuries in Dorothea's Court, that blurred into one long streak of blood, pain and coldness.

The main reason for that was, of course, Jaenelle. He tried very hard to believe that everything would be all right, that she will come back healed, powerful and as beautiful as always, but then, the pain returned, it _always_ returned, and he could not think, could not _hope_.

Even though Seatan, Tersa, and Surreal repeated that she _will_ come back, he couldn't fully believe them, because they too, didn't believe their own words, not wholly. And then came that.

He knew it would happen. He played that cursed game, sheathing knives into the hearts of people he loved, knowing that they would hate him for it, knowing that there may be no forgiveness. He knew it, but it still hurt.

 _If Jaenelle was here, their bitterness would lessen and they would be keener to look past the game I played for my Queen, or they would still be as cold as they were, but at least she would be here to ease that guilt and the pain._ He though that when boyos and the coven came to their Uncle Seatan, offering support to his father and looking at Daemon with empty eyes at the same time. But she was not there and for the first week the only thing that helped was Seatan's quiet disappointment in Jaenelle's friends and Surreal's scathing temper.

Then, week after… a week after _that_ , Lucivar came back, Lucivar had _forgiven_ him, and he could feel the strain on his Chalice easing the tiniest bit, enough so, that he wasn't balancing at the breaking point again.

Seeing his brother brittle like that, Lucivar made a quick decision and Marian with Daemonar came a couple of hours later, three trunks full of clothes trailing after them. They stayed at the Hall for a couple of weeks. Daemon spent this time getting to know his sister-in-law and his nephew, who he quickly became fiercely protective of. Daemonar also took a liking to his wingless uncle, which resulted in a bout of aneurism to everyone involved. Daemonar shoved his affection in a peculiar way.

When Lucivar first saw the silent treatment Daemon received from the First Circle, he threw the girls into the nearest body of water, and all of the boys received a prompt lesson in the practice circle. It didn't change anyone's attitude, though.

The only other person that treated Daemon as before, or maybe even better, was Karla. She visited the Hall only once, a short while after Lucivar had to finally get back to his eyrie. She had a quick meeting with Seatan and then accosted Daemon in his room. She said that Glacia was in terrible condition and she had to take care of it, so she had no time to hover around him. He was a bit miffed about her words, but then she added that as a person who lived so long in the type of environment her Territory became, he would know what could be done in places she could have no idea of. It was just a pretext to get him out of Hall and to Glacia, why, he had no idea.

At first he declined the silent invitation and it would probably end on this, except that two days later Chaosti and Aaron appeared at the palace at exactly the same time when Daemon was walking out of the door. The tense atmosphere between them _would_ have surely ended in a bloody battle, if not for Surreal who appeared from around the corner, then stopped abruptly to take in what was happening. The stand-off ended when she asked in her sweetest voice if there was a _fucking problem_. No one dared to say that there was one and the boys continued on their way while Daemon approached her.

"There is something I need to do in Glacia," he said distractedly and looked at her with consideration. "Do you want to come?"

She scrutinized him in return. "And will there be trouble?"

"I don't think so, Surreal," he said with a small tilt to his lips

"Ok, I guess I will go with you, for a couple of days. I'll have to find some warm clothes. It's barely spring and I don't plan to go and freeze my tits off in there," with meant that she will make sure that he will not have anyone snarling at him for no reason and come back, with, or without him.

Surreal stayed in Glacia's Capital for a whole of five days, after which she bolted it out of there. She carefully observed Karla's interactions with Daemon and got to the conclusion that there was no unresolved animosity between them. Deciding so, she got tired of Glacian weather and returned to the Hall.

To tell the truth, Glacia _was_ more wrecked than the other Territories, but it was nothing that a good queen would not be able to handle. He stayed there anyway, because Karla wanted him to, and also because he didn't want to crash with the rest of the first circle every time they visited Seatan. The additional bonus was that it was closer to Askavi, and through this, to his brother and nephew, than Hall was, and the cold never bothered him anyway.

He stayed in Glacia a couple of months, almost until Jaenelle's return. Even though Seatan resigned his position as a ruler of Dhemlan, he still stayed at the Hall to took care of things at least until Jaenelle recovered, which gave him the possibility to leave Hall for so long.

The main reason Daemon stayed in Glacia was to support Karla. The Witch's Blood took a lot out of her and it shown. She needed someone to help her without pitying her, and he needed to be needed. At Hall, there was no one who needed help, except for himself, so it was easier to stay there in the cold city. So he stayed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Become an Enemy to remain a Friend**

 **Chapter 2**

I'm shit at making dialogs look realistic, but I will try, promise

 **Disclaimer** : Black Jewels belong to Anne Bishop

* * *

 _(placed after Queen of the Darkness)_

 _(In my story, Delia wasn't adopted by Karla. Instead, it was agreed upon when Witch came back, that she will stay with the Arcerians)_

* * *

Karla reminded Daemon strongly of Prick, in that she was crude, sarcastic and had little to none interest in opposite gender (Marian didn't count). What _was_ different though, was that where Lucivar had no interest in his own gender too, Karla had. And she wasn't even really hiding with her interest. It irritated Daemon, if only because he never noticed the covert glances she shoot at some of the ladies, the way her voice became almost _softer_ when she talked to them, while they interacted before, but it also amused him, that one of Jaenelle's female friends could have been his _rival_.

When he hesitantly told this to Karla, as a way to make him look like a normal idiotic male in her eyes, more than a danger( _he was always a danger, but he didn't enjoy to always be reminded of that fact, not by people he_ liked), she snorted with laughter, before announcing that the Witch was the straightest person she has ever meet. It brought thoughts to his head, about other males, but he no longer felt so vulnerably _unneeded_ , so they passed quickly.

* * *

After the first month of living together, Daemon and Karla could easily say that they were very good friends. This fact could be proven simply by looking at their interactions. There was no stilted politeness in Daemon's voice whenever he was annoyed, he didn't hide his emotions behind the mask, and though it was not visible, he no longer felt uncertain of how his actions would be received. It didn't happen often to him. All the other people who received this sort of behaviour from him could be counted on fingers of one hand, and there still would be some _left_.

Also, Karla finally adjusted to his charm and stopped reacting to it. It was not normal, Daemon knew Surreal for _centuries_ , and she still reacted to him without fault, he suspected that Glacia's Queen's sexual preferences were the reason. But thanks to her immunity, the baths that she still had to take, and which he still helped her with, stopped being awkwardly orgasmic for her, and became just really comfortable.

Daemon also got many points from her for his neutral reaction to her orientation. Not many people just shrugged and joked at things like that. Well, maybe it also had something in common with her Triple Gifted status, and that there was a lot of people, not only males, who were of opinion that it was her obligation to produce children and continue her power. Not that she ever worried about other people's opinion.

And the other thing was, that she still got pitying looks from the Coven and boyos, on those days when she couldn't walk even with Craft. And she _hated_ their pity, and their worry, because she was _alive_ , for Darkness's sake, and if not for Jaenelle _and_ Daemon, she wouldn't be. And he knew that, and he respected it.

And Daemon only needed to look at her once to know that she was filling out documents all night again and just didn't get any rest, or that she had to go check how her subjects lived and that she overtaxed herself again by using too much Healing Craft.

And he never disapproved like other boys were prone to do in that situations (she couldn't say that her sisters would not understand the need to rule), he just made sure that she was fully healed before allowing her to pull a sleepless night or to go on another adventure.

And if she promised to keep up the Ebony barrier at all times, he promised not to tell anyone from her court of where she went, and anyone from Witch's First Circle, why the barrier was elected at all. Not that anyone would ask him, at least not at the beginning.

It has to be said here, that though she was less of a social butterfly than Khardeen, Karla, even with her injury, was a force to be reckoned with, as in the First Circle, as outside of it. And her opinion could sway Lady's Court _without_ use of any physical force.

So when Morghann and Khardeen first came to visit about two weeks since Daemon's arrival, and all that they could offer to him was short and polite "Prince Sadi," right after enthusiastic greeting with Karla, full of hugs and friendly jabs, she felt that something _had_ to be done about it. Daemon's face was blank to begin with, but after that, all the little twitches that young Queen started to recognise disappeared altogether. _Well, it wouldn't do_.

* **Do you trust me Daemon?** * she asked on a private line of her Grey.

He looked at her with that bored expression, that made her feel lacking, but there was no hesitation when he answered * **Yes** * on the line of their communication.

It didn't take long after that, for her to take full control of the situation. She wrapped on of her arms around his shoulders and with a grin worth of Khaelas, moved her plan into action.

"Okay, _enough_ of this bullshit. We all know that Daemon here was doing everything on Witch's _orders_. He _saved_ Jaenelle and lost eight years of his live because he thought that he _killed her_ ," if she wasn't touching him, she probably wouldn't notice his minimal tensing at her words, but she moved on, even aware of his discomfort.

"Jaenelle trusts him with her _life_ , and so do _I_. I know that your silly little feelings were hurt, but I thought that we trusted our Lady with doing what was right. Apparently I was _wrong_. You can go now, and you can come back when you get some reasoning back. And you can tell that to the rest."

Short to say, the Scelt couple hadn't stayed for long that time.

But when two weeks later Khary came, alone this time, he didn't pause before greeting Daemon with his usual, if maybe a little forced exuberance. They never apologised for their actions, Daemon because he was doing what his Queen wanted of him, and if he had to, he would do it again, which both of them knew, and Khardeen, because when he tried, Daemon announced that his reaction would be even _worse_ if he thought that someone was trying to manipulate his Lady.

After this, it didn't take long for Khary to forgive when he had Karla breathing down his neck, and he could clearly see and remember the quiet desperation to hear _more_ about Jaenelle's life, shining somewhere deep in Daemon's eyes. Maybe Khary's acceptance didn't seem like much, but it was enough for the gates to First Circle's social web to open once again for Witch's lover.


End file.
